Mishaps
by CouchPotato121
Summary: Natsu wants to look for Igneel and Lucy is having problems. Gray tags along on an adventure that he didn't bargin for while dealing with his emotions.
1. Ch 1 The Duel

Mishaps

CouchPotato121 here. I hope this story goes on a long time and I hope all of the people who read this like it. This is second attempt at a fanfic but alas I never put it up. So this is my first real work.

Natsu: That's great I hope I get to fight a lot of people. I want to get stronger.

Gray: Like that will ever happen. The likeliness of that happening is the likeliness that I will eat spicy food.

I need someone to say the disclaimer.

Lucy: CouchPotato121 "sadly" does not own Fairy Tail. But I don't know if I would be sad.

Oi, Oi, Oi,

Natsu: Onward Hhooo!

Please R&R

**The Duel**

**Chapter 1**

"FIRE FIST!!" Natsu yelled as he brought his fist down on his opponent who flew past the crowd that had gathered to watch, into a house. Dust and rubble flew everywhere as the house collapsed on top of the man from his impact.

". . 9. 10. Gray is down. Match won by Natsu!!" Makarov declared. The crowed cheered the Fire Mage.

" Wowhoo, Yeah!!" Natsu exclaimed while doing a victory dance that looked like he was imitating a monkey that was standing on one leg with one arm above his head and the other taping his thigh. Let us just say that it was funny looking.

" NO WAY! I'm not dead yet! There is NO way that Natsu won. This was a fight to the death!!" Gray shouted as he destroyed yet another building in his attempt to stand up.

"Natsu won fair and square. Honestly I don't see how a small dispute over better tasting food is a MATCH TO THE DEATH!! Makarov yelled " BECAUSE OF YOU TWO I HAVE TO PAY TO REBUILD TWO HISTORICAL BUILDINGS!! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT COSTS?"

"Calm down Master, its not that bad. It could have been a lot worse. There was only one blow. Think if this went on for five minutes or so, we would have to rebuild over half the town." Mirajane said with her optimistily sweet smile that she uses for just these occasions that involves damage done by the two.

"You're right, I also have to say that it is partly my fault for agreeing to let them have a duel." Makarov muttered, " Just so you know you guys are going to have to help rebuild the buildings."

" What" both Natsu and Gray said at the same time. They started glaring at each other again. As Natsu and Gray began another fight, a very angry Makarov cut them both off.

"HAVEN'T YOU LEARNED YOUR LESSON YET? YOU GUYS ARE GOING TO REBUILD THE BUILDING YOU DESTROYED SO THAT I DON'T HAVE TO PAY MORE. YOU DO THIS AGAIN AND I WILL DO "THAT"." Sometime during his rant he became big, as he finished he shrunk and walked away to tell the repair company that they would be helping. At his words Natsu and Gray immediately paled and stopped what they were doing. They looked at each other, each sweating, and had a mutual agreement take place. They never wanted "That" to happen again.

" Remind me never to make Makarov angry" Lucy sighed into her hands. 'Knowing them I'm going to get dragged into this.' Lucy thought in despair. And sure enough

" HEY LUCY, This is all you fault. If you hadn't asked us if we liked our meals WE would not be in this mess." Gray and Natsu said in unison.

"How the heck is that MY fault?" she asked in frustration. "I just wanted to know if you liked my cooking. YOU were the ones that insisted that I make you dinner because you were "out of money and wanted food". I made the same dish for everyone, though now that I think about it, I did put a little hot sauce on Natsu's plate and a little bit of mint on Gray's plate. BUT THAT SHOULDN'T MATTER! Don't get me involved in your stupid little fights!"

**An hour later**

"Oh god, this is so heavy. I need a break." Lucy complained as she carried her twenty-fifth beam to the construction site.

"Your not the one carrying it, Taurus is. Why do you get to use magic?" Gray asked with a hint of jealously in his voice.

" Makarov said that it was ok for me. Since I'm not the reason for this mess, I get to have a little help. Your getting help to you know. Me. I'm providing you with help so that we can be finished faster and go get another job so that I can pay my rent this month." Lucy said in a harsh manner but she was too tired for it to be affective. "This was your punishment, not mine."

"You look very enticing even when you are sweating!" Taurus called over to Lucy with a big blush on his face.

"Gahh! Why do I have to be around so many weird and perverted people? Taurus! Just stop it with the weird compliments already and Gray put your pants back on!" It was then that Lucy lost it and started weeping.

"Sniff … the rent….sniff …the people I hang out with…sniff…my LIFE!"

"It can't be that bad. I mean you have us, right?" Natsu asked in an innocent tone but with a poorly masked smirk on his face. He knew that that would make Lucy go over the edge even more. He loved to see her flustered. He didn't know why he just liked it. Just then she flushed in anger and directed it at Natsu.

"I can't take it any more! You had my help, now you don't. If you need me I'll be in Fairy Tale." With that Lucy stormed off with a concerned Taurus trailing behind her. As soon as she turned the corner Natsu burst out in a loud bout of laughter.

"Nice going, ash for brains." Gray scolded

"What did you call me?" Natsu said in a rapid change of moods. He charged Gray and grabbed his shirt, which for some reason he still had on. "You looking for a fight?"

"If we fight we get "That" remember." Gray stated with a smirk on his face. The day was his victory and he knew it. For some reason when Lucy was not around his tolerance of Natsu dropped to about to zero. He didn't know why, but when saw how she reacted to Natsu, he got irritated. No matter how hard he tried he never go the same rise from her as Natsu, and that irritated him even more.

"Hey that's not fair." Natsu gasped as he became four shades whiter. "You won today but next time you will lose. I think we're even now. 10,674 to 10,674 even. Next time you won't be so lucky." Natsu said as he gave one of his trademark smirks. "Lets get this over with. I want to go on a job too. I need money if I want to go looking for Igneel." Natsu's expression became unreadable as he said this last part. That was one thing that interested Gray. He wanted to find this famous dragon who was the father of such a destructive force and find out what he is like. He wanted to find out how Natsu became his lunatic self.

"Fine, but I get to pick the job this time since I won this round." Gray said as he walked off to get some more logs.

"Lucy may already have one when we get back." Natsu retorted just to make his point. "By the way you're missing you shirt and pants now."

"Wha-…Shit! Natsu lend me yours." Gray called after Natsu who started running after his last comment.

"No way, get your own!" Natsu yelled back laughing.


	2. Ch 2 Those Questions

Chapter 2

CouchPotato121 here! Wow second Chapter! Ha! It is going to be a while before I get the third chapter up. I is sorry. The sad thing was I couldn't figure out how to post the story (sad right T-T) so while I was looking I was writing as well.

Natsu: That is no excuse! People write every day! And post every day!

AHH I'm sorry! T-T I'll try to be fast. (Go hides in a corner and starts cultivating mushrooms.)

Mirajane: Natsu be nice. CouchPotato121 does not own Fairy Tail.

Natsu: What?

Thanks Mira.

Mirajane: No problem. Just keep working

Okay! On to the next chapter! Enjoy! R&R please

**Chapter 2**

**Those Questions**

**Three days later**

"Hey guys." Mirajane said as two very tired looking mages came to the Fairy Tale bar. "How was rebuilding the museum and the Town Council Meeting Hall? It took you longer than I though it would."

"Yeah, the museum is done and the Meeting Hall is almost finished. If we had been able to use a little bit of magic we could have been done faster. But NOO, we had to wait four hours until the paste was hot enough to use. I was really annoyed by that." Gray explained. He kept on telling Mirajane about their punishment, and soon enough knowing Natsu, he got bored.

"I'm going to go look for Lucy. See you tomorrow at the Meeting Hall." With that Natsu got up and left the two to talk. He was too into looking for Lucy that he didn't notice the sour look forming on Gray's face.

"I know that look well." Gray shot back around to look at Mirajane.

"What look?" he asked innocently.

"The one you were just wearing. I have a feeling, though, that you don't know why you have that look. There was a time when I wore that very face. It took me a while to figure out what it was. I just hope you realize soon. Or else you could end up hurting your self." Mirajane explained.

"Hey Mira I'll buy a drink for Tony. See you later I'm going to be out for a while." Natsu yelled across the room.

"Alright. I'll be right there. Tony you're lucky, Natsu never buys drinks! See you Natsu!"

"Why don't you just tell me?" Gray interrupted.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. You would deny it with your whole being. I have to say that I don't want to get on your bad side." Mirajane said laughing the whole time.

"You keep talking like that and you will see my bad side anyway." Gray threatened with a wide smile.

"Mirajane! It's not fair that you give all of your time to him. I want some toooo!" said a rather drunk Fairy Tale member.

"Yes! I'm coming! What would you like to drink?! Gray I will be right back. By the way you don't have your shirt on!" Mirajane called behind her as she went to get the overly drunk man some water.

"I'll hold you too that. Wait…Wha- Shit not again!" Gray yelled back. He smiled to himself. If there was anyone who could smooth his feathers it was Mirajane.

Back with Natsu right after he left Gray

"Lucy! Oi Tony. Have you seen Lucy?" Natsu asked the Fairy Tale member who looked less drunk than the others. Even though it doesn't look like it Natsu has an orderly way of finding things he just did it loudly.

"The Stellar Mage, yeah she was here looking for jobs. I think she found one. But it looked like it was a find a lost animal. She should be back soon."

"Thanks a bunch! Hey Mira I'll buy a drink for Tony. See you later I'm going to be out for a while." With that Natsu started to bound out of Fairy Tale but just before he left he heard Mirajane call her goodbyes. In acknowledgement he waved his hand.

" Now I think I'll just wait for her in her apartment. She'll love that. HA! I can't wait to see her face." Snickering to himself he made his way too her apartment.

Natsu decided that like always he would enter through the window. He was now the master of breaking into her house. It was second nature. He would melt the glass, unlatch the lock, open the window, take the melted glass and reshape it, and last place it back in the window frame. He thought himself rather smart to come up with this plan.

As soon as Natsu opened the window a smell hit his nose. It was a nice smell that relaxed him. He could smell a spice like nutmeg and faintly mixed in a hint of cinnamon.

"I never noticed that her apartment smelled so nice." He said to himself. Natsu sat there for a few minutes just taking in that wonderful sent.

Remembering that he had to fix the window, he started molding it back to shape. Pressing it lightly to the window he put it back in place. What to do now? He could look around the apartment and find something to eat, but he settled for sitting on the couch and waiting for her there.

Natsu sat there looking around the room thinking about what he should do after he talked to Lucy. He wanted to ask her if she wanted to join his search for Igneel, but he didn't want to cause her any trouble. She seemed to be troubled enough as it was. On the last mission she had kind of gone on a rampage and destroyed a lot of things.

Making a fist with one hand he hit it against the palm of his other hand. That's what he wanted to ask her! He had forgotten. He wanted to know what was going on. Oh well she wasn't here and he would ask her if he remembered.

Letting the exhaustion catch up to him, Natsu started to fall asleep. Stretching out on the couch, he took one last long intake of the sweet smelling apartment and slipped off to the sleep that had been pulling at his conscious for two hours.

Thirty minutes later

"AAHH, that was a really fast animal. I have no idea what it was but it was fast." Lucy sighed as she entered her apartment.

"I'm tired, I'm sweaty from running, and all I want to do is sleep after a nice long, hot shower." She said as she walked past Natsu heading into her bedroom. Not noticing that Natsu was sleeping on the couch, she started to take her shower. She started humming to herself lightly as she turned on the shower and got in. Steam rose off of her body as she stepped in. Giving a contented sigh as she felt the hot water run down her body loosening the muscles that had tightened during the day, she started her showering routine.

"Huh, Whas zat?" Natsu said while stretching and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

SHHHHH

Perking up at the sound of the shower running, Natsu realized that Lucy had come back.

"She must have come back while I was asleep." He mused to himself. "I probably shouldn't interrupt her shower. I want to keep my life intact with my body." Natsu said as a shiver of terror ran down his spine making his hands tingle.

Lucy was scary when she was angry. He didn't like it. Pushing thoughts of how Lucy would mangle his body if he interrupted her, he sat down and started waiting again an evil grin on his face. He couldn't wait to she her face. She had the funniest reactions.

SHHHhhhhhpp

"She's done! Ok. Where should I surprise her?" He asked himself. "Here she would be less likely to go over bored and maim me, but in her bedroom I would get the funniest reaction." Being Natsu, he entered her bedroom and sat on her bed without making a sound. 'Her bed is comfy' he thought.

Click

3..2..1..

"AHHHHHHHH!! Natsu! What the SENCORED are you doing here?!" Lucy bellowed.

"YO! This bed is comfy."

"That's not what I asked you!! Why are you here!"

"AH HA HA HA HA HA! You should see the looking on your FACE! HA HA HA!"

"Don't know, can't remember." Natsu said after he regained his breath. He sat with his arms and legs crossed and his head tilted to the side thinking about what those questions were. "I had two things to ask you, but I don't remember." He said scratching his head raking his brain for the elusive questions.

"Load of help that is. He takes a nap and forgets the entire day. Memory of a goldfish." Lucy said calming down a bit. "Can we continue some where other than my BEDroom?" Lucy told rather than asked. She walked to the kitchen dragging Natsu behind her by the ear.

"Do you want something to eat? I'm not a good cook, but you eat burning food so you might like it." Lucy said looking through the cupboards trying to find something that she might not be able to burn. She did find one so she settled for the ramen. That can't possible catch on fire, but who knows.

"Sounds great! I just took a nap, so I'm starving." Natsu answered with a wide smile.

" How was your job? I hear that you were looking for a job and found a missing animal one."

" It went fine. The animal was fast but with the help of Taurus's speed we were able to catch it. I have no IDEA what it was, but it was gnarly looking. I was able to get the last part of my rent for this month so I'm in a better mood. All I have to do now is give it to the landlord."

"That's RIGHT!! I just remembered! Are you ok? On our last job, you kind of went berserk. Why?"

SLAM

"I don't want to talk about it." Lucy said in a shaking voice.

"………Okay I got it. I won't ask again." Natsu said with a nod.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to burst at you. To tell the truth, I scared myself last time. I don't know what happened." She said sheepishly.

"That's alright. But it brings me to my other question. Would you like to accompany me while I'm looking for Igneel? Makarov got a clue to his whereabouts and I want your help!" Natsu exclaimed jumping to his feet and making wild gestures.

"You're asking me to accompany you? To find Igneel? Really? Wow! Of course! I would love to help. I always wanted to meet Igneel. What's that? Do you smell something burning?" Lucy asked while wrinkling her nose.

WHOOSH

"OH NO THE FOOD IS ON FIRE. NATSU EAT IT QUICKLY. I DON"T WANT TO BURN DOWN THE APPARTMENT." Lucy yelled to Natsu.

"Burning food? Cool! Thanks."

In one fell swoop the fire was gone with no trace except the smell.

"Man that was good. Lucy, I'm going to go home but tomorrow I'm going to see Makarov about the clue. Meet me at the bar of Fairy Tale." With that Natsu unlatched the window, jumped down and sped off to his home.

"BY THE WAY THANKS FOR THE FOOD! IT WAS REALLY GOOD!" Natsu yelled to Lucy who was closing the window.

"SEE YOU TOMORROW!" Lucy responded.

"He actually asked me to help him search for Igneel. Oh things are going to get interesting now. Wait a soup caught fire? How is that even possible? I mean it's LIQUID for heavens sake!"

Leaving the window she started thinking about her last mission. What HAD happened? She didn't remember at all, and that scared her.


	3. Ch 3 The Clue

CouchPotato121 here

CouchPotato121 here! Chapter three! I think this is the longest story I have written in my life. wOw. I had trouble writing this chapter. There were a lot of important things that I needed to include but it was hard to incorporate them all. Chapter THREE I'm So Happy

T-T

Gray: What are you crying for? You should be happy.

Lucy: Gray those are tears of joy not sadness. You should know the difference.

Natsu: I knew that. Now lets get going. I'll do the disclaimer. I want to find Igneel as soon as possible. CouchPotato121 does not own Fairy Tail.

Oh! I forgot heh heh

"speaking"

'thinking'

**Mishaps 3**

**Chapter 3**

**The Clue**

Beep Beep Beep….Beep beep bee. Smack.

"Ugg. What time is it? I don't remember setting my clock." Lucy groaned as she pulled her self up to look at the time. 'That's not good I don't remember setting the clock. Not again.'

"6:30 IN THE MORNING! Oh man. Why? Why must I be up now? I remember Natsu asking me something yesterday." Lucy scratched her head thinking about yesterday while gather clothes. "THAT'S right! I need to get moving. Natsu must have set the alarm for me yesterday. He must have wanted to get moving early." Lucy remarked as she picked up her pace.

"Oh man I need to pack. He didn't say how long we are going to be gone, a week, a month, Gahh!! Natsu you need to be more specific about your plans!" she yelled to an empty room. 'Wait, … what am I going to do about rent? If I'm gone longer than a month then I'll get behind on my payments. Great I need to contact the landlord about this.'

An hour later

"Thank you soo much! I don't know what I would do without such an understanding landlord." Lucy exclaims excidedly resisting the urge to hug her landlord. Her landlord was a big burly looking woman but after you got used to her sharp looks and intense eyes, she was really kind hearted but stern. After much pleading and begging, she agreed to let Lucy add 40,000 jewels to her last payment, instead of having a huge payment waiting for her when she got back. 'Now that that is taken care of, I better get packing. This is going to take a while.'

So from picking out the clothes and trying to pick out minimal shoes, from deciding outfits and trying to make it all compact, Lucy was ready to go after about another hour. Running out the door at around 8:30, or at least trying to, she headed for Fairy Tale. Saying her last goodbyes to her landlord and focusing on getting to Fairy Tale, she could feel the excitement coursing though her veins heightening the sense of impending adventure.

Upon arriving at the grand doors of Fairy Tale, the first thing she did was locate Natsu. And sure enough, Natsu was there at the bar talking to Mirajane with more energy than usual, if that was possible.

"Natsu!" Lucy called over to him, making him turn his head a beam the brightest smile she had ever seen her way.

"Lucy! You're here early. I was expecting to leave some time in the after noon. I was going to let you catch up on sleep." Natsu explained as Lucy made her way over to the bar.

"Really? That's awfully thoughtful of you. Wait… you weren't the one that set my alarm then?" She asked Natsu fearing the answer to her question.

"You have an alarm clock?" Natsu asked innocently in reply. 'Oh shit, what the hell is going on?' she asked herself, her expression grew grave, making both Mirajane and Natsu worried.

"Don't worry, if anything happens again, promise that I will stop you before you hurt anybody." Natsu declared.

To Mirajane this was a bad move on Natsu's part. She knew Lucy had a temper and was always ready to take it out on Natsu. Fearing for the worst, Mirajane prepared herself for Lucy's violent outburst.

It never came.

Instead she watched as Lucy dawned a shocked expression that melted into a face she had never seen Lucy wear before. It was a mixture of relief, happiness, and something she could not quite place, but she had an idea of what it was. Lucy spoke first.

"Thank yo-

"NATSUUUU! WHERE ARE YOU? DID YOU FORGET OR JUST DECIDE THAT I WAS ENOUGH TO FINISH THE JOB?" a very, very pissed off Gray hollered at the doors of Fairy Tale.

"Hey Gray, what do you want?" Natsu asked sounding a little peeved. Not that Gray was yelling at him, that was routine, but because he interrupted Lucy. He could tell that he had just done something that make Lucy trust him more, and Gray had ruined the atmosphere. That was a new side of Gray that Natsu didn't like. Lately, it seems whenever he and Lucy were having a relationship changing talk, that Gray would always pop out of the woodwork and put a stop to what was happening.

"WHAT DO I WANT?" Gray asked trying to calm down while taking off his shirt. Natsu could not be serious. With his voice shaking from anger he continued. "We were supposed to finish the buildings together, but NO!" Gray's temper flared again. "I GOT THERE AT 7 IN THE MORNING AND FINISHED THE BUILDINGS ON MY OWN. I WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?" Gray finished his chest heaving with his out burst.

Lucy saw, out of the corner of her eye that Mirajane had the smallest of blushes on her face. Then it clicked.

'Oh I get it. That's so … unexpected.' Lucy mused to herself while bringing her attention back to Natsu, her thoughts drifting to earlier.

'There are times when he can be so reassuring and nice, and then there are times when he can be such a stubborn, oblivious dunce.' Lucy thought as she herself felt her cheeks get warmer. Her thoughts were disturbed when Natsu responded.

"uh..OH YEAH! The buildings. I'm sorry Gray I forgot all about that." Natsu explained.

"I got a tip from Makarov about Igneel yesterday before we started working. I was so happy that I forgot all about the repairs." Natsu said. He was in too much of a good mood to fight with Gray. Not now, he was also preoccupied with how they were going to get to where they needed to be twenty days from now. He wanted to walk but they would have to take the train partway there, too long for walking.

"Oh really? That's great!" Gray said. A mood swing for all mood swings. He forgot all about his anger towards Natsu. 'That's right Natsu said something like that yesterday. I remember now. If I were in his shoes I would forget too.'

Deciding that now would be a good time to quell thee tension that accumulated when Natsu started talking about Igneel, Mirajane took action.

"Natsu, why don't you take Gray along with you as an apology?" She asked with an innocent smile that had a deeper glint to it that went unnoticed by everyone except Lucy.

"Hey! That's a great idea." Natsu enthusiastically agreed. "You're coming too, Gray!"

"That sounds like a great idea, Mirajane." Lucy chimed in. "You should come Gray, it will be fun."

"When are we leaving and where too?" Gray asked unable to squelch his curiosity.

"We leave as soon as possible!" Natsu declared while posing. "You will just have to come with us to find out where we are going."

"Fine. I'll be back in thirty minutes. I need to pack my bag." Gray said as he let out a fake annoyed sigh. Truth be told, he was ecstatic. It was all he could do to keep himself from jumping in the air and giving a shout for joy. He loved going on adventure with Natsu and Lucy. They were always the most fun.

Making sure that he didn't look too suspicious, he left to pack. Natsu was talking to Makarov and telling him that they were leaving. So that left Mirajane and Lucy to talk.

"So tell me about the blush you were sporting, when Gray came in?" Lucy asked before Mirajane could say anything.

In the blink of an eye she looked as if someone suddenly dropped a bucket of dark pink paint on her face.

"It's nothing," Mirajane muttered under her breath while she started busying herself with work.

'That's so cute' Lucy thought as she watched Mirajane.

15 minutes later

"Alright here we come Igneel!!" Natsu shouted as they said their goodbyes.

"See you Makarov, Mirajane. Don't get too bored while we are gone." Lucy said in a not so subtle sarcastic tone.

"Bye jii-san, Don't get too drunk while we are gone." Gray warned "Bye Mirajane, See you soon." Gray said as he turned around to leave with Natsu and Lucy who were waiting for him.

Makarov waved goodbye dreading what the bill for this trip would be.

"See you Natsu, Lucy, Gray! Be safe." Mirajane called after them "Gray, have fun and put your clothes back on!"

"Bye Mira- …Shit! Natsu lend me some clothes! Now!" Gray panicked.

"You have a bag of clothes use them!" Natsu said as they disappeared around the corner.

"I hope they'll be alright." Mirajane said turning to Makarov.

"This will be hard, but I have faith in them. I'm more worried about the bill."

"Ha! That's true. They do seem to be the most expensive team." Mirajane said turning to her work.


	4. Ch 4 Running and Water

CouchPotato121 here

CouchPotato121 here! I just want to thank all of my reviewers. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You all are so nice! I can't thank you enough! You have no idea what your reviews do to my motivation. I have never had this much motivation in my life. Thank you all so much. Thank you again. T-T

I hate writer's block. I rewrote this chapter 3 times. --

Special thanks to FallenRaindrops for reviewing with gusto and often. My self-confidence has been boosted by one hundred percent! Ok lets GO!! Fourth Chapter here we come. Now the real story begins!!

Natsu: All right!! Lets go get Igneel!

Lucy: GAHH Natsu! Don't pull me.

Gray: Natsu stop clinging to Lucy. Let her go and say the disclaimer.

Natsu: No! CouchPotato121 does not own Fairy Tail.

Chapter Four

The Beginning.

The sky was clear and the rare wind was a cool breeze. The grass was a lush green and the road was smooth. The trees were tall and lined the road. Bushes were pruned and the grass was all the same length. They knew they were walking but the scenery stayed the same and they felt like they were getting nowhere.

"Ne, Natsu, are we there yet? I know we have been walking for at least three hours. I know it's lunchtime. I'm hungry and I want a rest. My feet hurt and we need more water." Lucy complained as she drank the last of her water. It was hot and muggy.

"Ok LUNCHTIME IT IS." Natsu yelled with a smile as a huge rumble came from his stomach reinforcing his statement.

"Hey Natsu, where are we going to get some food. We are nowhere near a town and **I** don't SEE any FOOD!" Gray pointed out. He hated being hot; being hot irritated him to no end. He could keep himself cool but to took energy. So after three hours of keeping himself cool he was tired and wanted food. THERE WAS NO FOOD!

'Where the hell are we going to get some food!!' where the thoughts of both Gray and Lucy. Simultaneously Lucy and Gray flop on the ground, Lucy crying and Gray with a vacant look in his eyes that had the underlining theme of anger.

'I didn't pack any food and I don't think that Gray packed some either. The only other person who could have food is Natsu and I doubt that he packed food. He wouldn't think that far ahead, would he?' Lucy thought in despair while picking herself halfway off of the ground.

Without missing a beat Natsu pulled the biggest basket of food Lucy and Gray had ever seen out of his backpack. It had everything in it, bread, ham, chicken, anything you could think of and more.

'This must be the basket he brings with him when he goes on long journeys.' Lucy mused. 'It's huge and it has to be inorder to hold off his appetite.'

"FOOD!" Gray exclaimed. Picking himself off the ground and wiping the drool away, he began making him a sandwich.

"Natsu! You are a lifesaver! Did you pack this yourself?" Lucy asked while she made a sandwich herself.

"No, Happy packed it. I told him that I was going to look for Igneel and he made this for me." He pointed at the basket and his backpack. "The backpack has a charm on it that allows the packer to put as much stuff in it while keeping it's weight the same. Cool Huh."

"Bye the way," Lucy started, "where IS Happy? He usually is jumping at the idea of going on a journey."

"Yeah. I was wondering the same thing. I knew it was too quiet, now I know why." Gray thought out loud.

"Happy went on a mission with Ezra. Actually, Happy made Ezra go on a mission with him. He said that it would be better if Ezra didn't come. I don't know why, but I know that he was happy." Natsu said while inhaling over a third of the food.

A shiver ran down Gray's spine. "He willingly went on a trip with Ezra? Now that is one brave cat." Gray finished while thinking of how many times he was forced to go on a trip with her, and remembering all of the scarring events that took place. Repressing another shiver, Gray changed the subject.

"So Natsu, where are we going anyway and what was the clue?"

"I was wondering when you were going to ask. You see it was the 7th day of the 7th month of the 777th year when Igneel disappeared. Makarov did some research and he found out that when the day month and year of all have the same number a rip in the plane appears. I think that that's what he said." Natsu explained

"And what does that have to do with anything." Gray asked in a bored way betraying what he felt. He was very interested, very interested.

"Gray! Shut up and let him finish." Said a very irritated Lucy who was apparently wrapped in what Natsu was saying.

"Well, Makarov came to the conclusion that Igneel traveled through the rip in the plane. Why? I have NO idea, but I do know that the next opening in the plane is this year at the mountain, Death's Peak. We have a while before the rip, so we don't have to hurry. We will however, at some point, have to take the train." With the last bit Natsu went a little pale.

"So how are we going to find him?" Lucy asked, "So the rip occurs, but how long does it stay open?"

"That I don't know, but I think that it is open for a couple of days." Natsu stated with a nod.

"Great, we have to go through a rip in the universe, find a dragon who could be anywhere, and get back before the rip mends after only a few days. That's almost impossible." Gray stated with a skeptical tone.

"Yes, but we have to try. I want to see Igneel again; I have something to tell him. Even if we don't bring him back, I need to talk to him."

"Then it's settled. We look for Igneel in a rip that will only last for a few days at the most." Lucy said with a smile lightening the mood.

"I guess it can't be helped. So how long until the rip." Gray asked while taking off his pants. Some time ago during the explanation he took off his shirt.

"About two months. But we will have to take the train the last part of the way. The path there is not walk able."

"Yosh, the fist thing get as far as we can while gathering information. We need to find out just how long this rip says open. We have to listen to anything and everything. Lets get going!" Lucy ended the conversation while picking up her food. "But first I need to get some water. Do you hear a stream anywhere?" Lucy asked as she examined her canteen.

"Lucy, this road is side by side with a stream. You could have gotten water at any time." Natsu pointed out.

Lucy was Livid! "So you are say that all of the time I was asking for water refilling there was a stream right there?" She asked as a vein popped out of her head. She was looking at them both. "Gray, did you know?" She pointed

"Umm…. if I said yes what would you do?" gray said in the smallest voice. He had to admit that being with Ezra had done a number on her glare. It had intensified ten fold and had the smallest hint of blood lust maybe. All he knew was that he was starting to fear Lucy like he feared Ezra.

"I would have to filet you both!" Lucy said loosing it and starting to run after them.

"That's going to hurt Gray more, he's only in his boxers." Natsu said while laughing his head off.

"What! Shit! Lucy let me get my clothes I'm going to need them." Gray shouted trying to turn around and pick up his clothes.

"Not a chance!" Lucy said blocking him. "This is your punishment, walking around almost naked!"

"What about Natsu?" Gray asked, "What does he get?"

"He gets my personal punishment." The look on Lucy's face could kill. Natsu took one look behind him and started running for his life.

The three of them made good head way that day. But with all of the running that they did, while they slept soundly they didn't notice the power was following them since they left Fairy Tale.


	5. Ch 5 The Tenth Morning

CouchPotato121 here

CouchPotato121 here! Man that last chapter was not what I was expecting. Oh well!

Two things. PLEASE REVIEW!! The last chapter has none. T-T.

All right. I'm going to try and make my writing better, more descriptive and such. So bear with me, and tell me if you want me to go back to what I was doing if you don't like it.

Chapter Four

The Tenth Morning

During their journey, Natsu, Lucy, and Gray had a wonderful time trying to kill each other. Let us just say that there were only a few moments where they were not yelling or trying to make a point with their fists. This was a normal day starting out like any other.

Lucy was having a peaceful dream about peaceful things. Piercing through the peaceful dream was a loud yell. Not an angry one, no, but a boisterous happy one that she was getting really annoyed by. It had been a long time since she got to sleep in, and she didn't like it. Every day she would grow more and more grumpy. It was hard trying to keep her cool with the world biggest morons for traveling companions. Giving a loud groan and lifting her head a little she tried to look around only to be hit with a wall of cold air invading her warmth, wanting to consume it. Shivering, she quickly retreated back into her warmth. She rolled over trying to ignore the nosy pink haired man that she knew was calling her to wake up.

"Lucy! Lucy! Wake up!" Natsu's overly happy voice came ringing into her ears as she slowly slipped into a very unwanted consciousness.

"Go away, can't we sleep in just once, and besides it is way too cold to get up now." Lucy slurred out as she maneuvered her way around to look at Natsu with the biggest puppy pout she could muster in the morning.

"No today we have to get there early so we can catch the train… on second thought I'll go back to bed." Natsu said with a slightly green look on his face. He slowly got back into bed and just sat there trying to think of hard non-moving ground.

At the word train Lucy was up and ready to go in the blink of an eye.

"Hey Natsu! Let's get going already!" Gray yelled angrily at the now sleeping Natsu. He had been ready to go even before Natsu had gotten up and he was running low on patience for the fire breather. Over the last three days Natsu had consumed most of the food in the bag, given Gray countless headaches, AND had gotten closer to Lucy. This trip was hard than expected. Just seeing the two say hi in the morning was enough to set him off the whole day. He didn't know why though. Why? Why was this so hard? Why was seeing them making his mood become so gloomy? He would always go back to the last time he talked to Mirajane. She said that she knew what he was feeling and that she knew it well. Well, what was it? God! This was making his head hurt. A LOT! Urg, fine! I really want to talk to Mirajane, at least she is sane! That was more than the other two could say for them selves, well more than Natsu could say, anyway.

"Natsu! Get up. I'm tired of walking and I want to get the last bit done. I don't want to sleep on the ground again tonight. Get moving!" With that Lucy kicked the "sleeping" form and turned to Gray. "Gray could you knock so sense into Natsu for me."

BIG mistake. Gray walked over to Natsu to knock some sense. He covered his foot in ice and kicked as hard as he could. Natsu was up in a flash and yelling his head off. All out mayhem ensued. This was bad and Lucy smacked herself while marveling at the stupidity of her request. Of course he was going to take her up on that. Great!

"You TWO! Stop NOW! I'm too tired to put up with your non-stop fighting!" Lucy yelled at them with a fury like no other. It was not right. Something was wrong but she didn't know what. Shit! She could feel something pulling at her conscious. That was it. That was all. She didn't remember what happened after that. It all went blank and black.

"Lucy, what's wrong?" Natsu asked. He had seen her confused face right after her yell. Just as she grabbed her head and fell forward he realized what was happening. There was only one other time that he had seen her look like that; their last mission together. This was not good.

"LUCY!" Gray shouted as he watched her fall to the ground. He watched as Natsu ran to stop her fall. It was like slow motion. He saw her sway and her knees buckle; he heard Natsu yell her name and make a run to save her. He saw her head dip down and slip forward. He watched Natsu dive to her to keep her head from meeting the ground, and he saw the look in Lucy's eyes that sent shivers of real fear up his spine.

"Natsu! Get away from her!" Gray shook as he said this fearing for both their lives.

"WHAT! She just fell! I don-"Natsu stopped as Lucy turned her head to look at him. He understood right then and there what Gray was saying.

'SHIT!" Natsu exclaimed as he retreated as fast as he could. 'This is so not good. If I don't knock her out soon this entire forest is going to be nothing at all, and I just missed my chance!' Lucy was now getting up and dusting herself off. She straightened and looked at them with golden eyes that seemed to make everything stop moving. She sneered and started laughing like a maniac.

"Oh, you two were with her last time I took the time to visit. I wonder what I should do with you." Lucy's look alike said with mirth in her voice. Her voice was deeper and rough and her hair was growing slightly darker the longer she stood there.

"I don't know who you are but bring Lucy back. NOW!" Gray shouted covering up his frightened state.

"I don't think so. I've been cooped up too long to go back now without having any fun." She said while disappearing, reappearing behind Natsu.

Natsu was watching Lucy's look alike trying to figure out how to stop her without doing too much harm to Lucy's body. He didn't notice when she disappeared only to reappear right behind him. He jumped away as a reflex and turned around to look at her wide eyed.

Wind was picking up and swirling around them. Without warning blades of wind sped towards the suspended Natsu. He narrowly missed the wind blades but was out of luck when a second wave sped his way only to hit a wall of ice.

"Thanks Gray. I need you to distract her while I-" Natsu was cut off by a rather nasty tornado that took down countless trees before it died down. Natsu looked up just in time to see Lucy appear in front of him with her hand raised holding a cluster of more wind blades making a sword.

"WA!!" Natsu exclaimed. He landed back on the ground while holding the cut he gained after his last encounter with the possessed Lucy. 'What do I do now. I can't get close to her without loosing a limb or two. Great!' Out of the corner of his eye he saw a concentrating Gray and he understood what he needed to do. He was knocked out of his epiphany with an up rooted tree. He looked around to find the road that they slept on was now a clearing that was large enough to build a rather large house in with enough room to have a sizable yard. 'Great, how am I going to do this?' Natsu thought while dodging another tree.

"Natsu, I nee-"

"I know Just let me do this." Natsu cut in. He looked at Lucy only to find that she was holding her head again.

"GAHH! No, Not now! I don't want to yet!" Lucy said while falling on her knees to the ground. Natsu took this opportunity to make his way unnoticed behind her. He grabbed her from the back and made sure that she could not move.

"Gray! NOW!" Natsu yelled.

"Seal." Gray said under his breath. The wind stopped and trees fell all around them thudding to the ground.

"What!" Lucy's look alike said. Looking around she saw a heaving Gray. Natsu was still holding her when she looked at him and twisted her face into a strained grin. "This is not the last time you will see me. You may have sealed my magic this time, but the next time we meet you will not be so luck."

"Who are you?" Natsu asked.

"My name is Jasmine. Don't forget it for I will be the one to end your life." She started laughing again this time straining to stay awake.

"What do you want?" Natsu asked the hysterical Lucy. He wanted to know how to get arid of her. He hated seeing Lucy like this. I made him feel things that he could not describe. He panicked, and felt like he would never see the real Lucy again when this happens. Any hit as to what she wanted would give them a lead.

"You want to know what I want? HA! Then why don't you ask Igneel? I'm sure he could give you an answer." She spat. With that her head fell forward and she was unconscious.

Natsu looked at her wide-eyed with his mouth open. 'Igneel? Did Igneel know Jasmine? What the hell is going on?'

Gray made his way over to Natsu. He expended too much magic on the binding spell and was tired. As he got closer he saw the look of confused shock on Natsu's face.

"What did you find out?" Gray asked a little taken aback at the look on Natsu's face.

"We need to find Igneel. The thing possessing Lucy is called Jasmine and she knows Igneel. I asked her what she wanted and she told me to ask Igneel. We need to keep moving. This is not just about me anymore, but about Lucy's wellbeing." Natsu stated.

Gray was at a loss for words. 'This is Natsu? I've never seen him this way before. There were times when he came close but this is different. He looks worried.

"Lets go. We need to get to town before dark." With that he hoisted Lucy onto his back and picked up both his bag and Lucy's. He turned around and head towards town. Gray stood there for a minute dumbfounded.

Something caught his attention and he looked around trying to find the sorec. Seeing non he turned around and started walking.

'I could have sworn I felt a presence back there.' Gathering his wits he caught up to Natsu and grabbed Lucy's bag from him.

Just out side the clearing a longhaired person stood there speechless at what had just happened. 'This was worse than I thought. Who would have thought that these three would be caught up in something so important.' The stranger followed behind the three keeping their distance to make sure that they weren't detected.

Natsu and Gray made their way to the town got a room. They were not going on the train until Lucy woke up. They had silently agreed on that while they were walking.


	6. Ch 6 Broken

CouchPotato121 here! Six chapters o.o O.o O.O WoHooo! I'm going to slow the story down a bit, or at least try! Yay for advice. Well here goes nothing! By the way, I'm going on a week vacation, so this is the last chapter till the 8th of August. But I will try to write while I'm there so I can post one right away.

Chapter 6

Broken

'Black? Where am I? Oh, that's right I was getting ready to travel with Natsu and Gray this morning. They were fighting and I got mad. Then what? I can't remember. Wait, I heard someone talk to me … but I don't remember what they said. OH NO!'

Lucy's eyes shot open. She sat up fast only to hit her head against something hard, Really hard.

"Oww" she groaned. She had a dizzy spell when she sat up, but that dizziness was now replaced with a splitting headache. She was pulled out of her wave of pain by a groan that matched how she felt. Pushing away the piercing pain, she moved her head ever so slowly to look at where the noise had come from. Before she could move her head an inch, Natsu pushed himself up into a standing position. He was holding his head, and Lucy watched as the grimace that was covering his face change to a wide grin as he realized what hit his head.

"LUCY!" Natsu exclaimed throwing his hands to the side as he fully registered that she was up.

"Ugg, don't shout it hurts."

"But you've been sleeping since you collapsed which was 7 hour ago."

"Oh … SEVEN HOURS AGO!" Lucy bellowed. Bad idea. There was a sharp stabbing pain and nothing. Then the pain worsened and she saw white. Clutching her head, she lost balance and started to fall forward only to have a strong arm wrap around her top. All that she noticed was the warmth that spread through her body and the feeling that she was someplace safe. She slipped off to a peaceful, rejuvenating sleep.

Natsu looked at Lucy and smiled. 'She must be really tired. Maybe I have been pushing everyone a little to hard.' He replaced her on the bed and looked around the apartment that they were going to use for the month.

The sun shown through the window indicating that it was around two in the afternoon. There were two beds and a couch in the room. The beds were so small that Lucy had a hard time fitting on them. Since it was hot out, the bed only had a sheet and a disgusting purple blanket on them matching the color of the room. There were two doors off this room, one door was to the bathroom and the other was to the dinning room. The bathroom had a nice shower in it that had enough room for an adult to lie down in. The shower curtain was pure white and the towels were the nasty shade of purple. The dinning room had the perfect size table. It was small and could sit three people comfortably. Branching off of the dinning room was the kitchen. There was a small stove and a refrigerator. The refrigerator was huge, just what they needed. The entire apartment was a combination of the nasty shade of purple and a bright yellow. Just looking at the apartment was enough to give Natsu another headache.

"She'll probably be hungry when she wakes up again." Natsu said to Gray who was sitting at the dining room table and putting their things down. The three had just gotten there and were tired. It took a lot longer than expected while carrying Lucy. Natsu looked over at Gray. Over those seven hours they had come to an agreement; they would never fight in front of Lucy again. On their last mission that was what made her pop her cork. So from simple deduction that took them three hours to figure out, they were going to swallow their pride and not fight for the sake of Lucy. They may have disagreements but they swore that they would never start physically fighting.

Gray nodded at this comment. He knew what Natsu wanted. So without another word said between the two, Gray left to go get some food. Heading out the front door and down to the first floor Gray began his search for food. Natsu stood there for a moment looking at the door that Gray just exited from. Turning around, he headed back into the bedroom where Lucy was sound asleep. He took a chair that was around the table and brought it with him to the side of Lucy's bed. He sat there watching her sleep. Her head was slightly tilted to the side with her mouth open a tiny bit. He watched her sleeping form rise and fall in a slow and steady rhythm.

**With Gray**

Gray walked down the road looking for a food store. He was deep in thought and unconsciously making scary faces that cleared the street of any pedestrians.

'Jeez, I should have stayed and made Natsu go get the food. Now he gets to be by Lucy when she wakes up again. Not to mention that he got to carry her all the way to town, though that was a long time. Seven hours is a long time to carry someone. I don't think I could have done that.' Gray was at the corner of a street so he looked around trying to decide which way to go while his mood grew more and more gloomy. Turning right, he returned to thinking. The street again was empty.

'It's disappointing to think that I wouldn't have been able to do that. Though we could have traded off. What am I thinking? I'm talking about Lucy like an object. Damn it!'

With that last though he saw a food store that looked promising. He headed in that direction not noticing that the people who were on the road as well were fleeing in the opposite direction. To describe the look on Gray's face can be done in one word, deadly. Walking into the store, he thought about the bond that Natsu and Lucy shared. This only made his mood deteriorate more. Each isle he moved to emptied as he entered.

'I hate it when the two are together. Why? What do they do to make me this angry and depressed? How? How do they make me this angry?' Gray was taking stuff off the shelves and throwing them in the basket not bothering to take notice of what he was buying. He noticed the basket was getting heavy and looked down perplexed.

'Where did all of this food come from? I must be going mad. Rackshaw? I know what a rickshaw is, but a rachshaw? What the hell is rachshaw? Great, I have to put almost all of this back.' Gray was putting the food back when a thought hit him. He stopped putting the box of rackshaw back as a shocked look spread across his face with the dawning realization 'Could it be that I like Lucy more than just a friend and that I'm jealous of Natsu? That's absurd. There is no way that I'm jealous of Natsu, is there? No, I'm just over thinking things.'

He started putting things back again this time he stopped himself again. 'Stop telling yourself that. You've come to the same conclusion five of six times already. Just admit that you are jealous of Natsu for being with Lucy all of the time.'

Shaking his head, he put the last of the food away and started gathering edible food. When he was finished, he shook his head at the stupidity of how he handled things. Taking his things to the cash register, Gray had another thought.

'Wait, does that mean Mirajane was jealous? That makes sense. But who was she jealous of. When I get back I'm going to have to talk about that with her.' The clerk sighed in relief when he noticed that Gray was smiling. Yes, Gray was smiling a mischievous smile while thinking about how to make Mirajane talk to him. 'Oh that's going to be fun!"

Snickering, he left the store and headed back to the apartment. He had been gone over an hour.

**With Natsu and Lucy**

After about twenty-five minutes of watching Lucy sleep Natsu was up and about putting his things away. He and Gray had decided that they were going to move the couch into the bedroom in case anything like last time happened again. Natsu was making room for the couch when he glanced over at Lucy.

'She looks so peaceful. My arm still tingles from when I caught her…I don't know what else to do. She looks like she's comfortable but I'm still worried. That last time Jasmine appeared… she was stronger than she was before. What does that mean? GAHH! Thinking like this makes my brain hurt.'

"Natsu, why are you banging your head against the wall?" a groggy Lucy asked. She rubbed her eyes and looked around the room. Taking in the horrible decor of the room she turned her eyes back to lock on Natsu.

"Where are we?"

"Lucy! Glad you're up. We are in the Town of Mazir. This is the town that we will be staying in until it is time for us to go up the mountain. But, that's not for another month or so."

"Oh" was all that Lucy said. Her eyes traveled around the room again only to land on the cut on Natsu's arm.

"!! When did you get that?" Lucy asked already knowing the answer and dreading it.

"Oh this, well you see, Gray and I got into a fight while you were unconscious and that's where he got me." Natsu said with a nervous laugh bringing his hand behind his head. He looked at Lucy.

Lucy lowered her head forward letting her bangs fall in front of her eyes hiding them from view, keeping her emotions from being seen. She was quite for a moment, just sitting there. Just when Natsu was finding the silence unbearable, Lucy spoke.

"Stop lying Natsu." Lucy whispered with a shaky voice.

"Lying about what?" Natsu answered before thinking. He internally scolded himself knowing that Lucy knew and that he was being untruthful. He looked at Lucy and he knew that something had broken in her. His eyes softened as watched her form begin to shake. He felt a pang of guilt clutch at his heart.

"STOP IT!" She yelled, whipping her head around with tears in her eyes streaming down her face.

"I know that you got that cut after I fainted. You don't need to hide it! I know how you got that …I know…when…Damn it! What's happening to me?" She yelled desperately bringing her hands up to her face.

With that, Lucy started sobbing leaning forward and clutching the blanket. Not knowing what to do, Natsu looked at her a moment feeling an emotion that was completely new. Then without thinking, he walked over to Lucy, pried her hands off the blanket, put his arms around her, pulling her up and giving her support. She immediately latched onto Natsu crying harder than ever. She buried her face in his shirt and let loose all of the stress that had built up inside her since they had left Fairy Tail. Natsu held her closer when he felt the grip on the back of his shirt loosen a little. This was almost unbearable for Natsu. He had made her cry and he felt horrible because of it. He closed his eyes not being able to think anymore, it was just too much.

They stayed silent after she had calmed down a little. Lucy was the first to speak.

"Thank you Natsu."

Something changed in Natsu. He could feel it. It gripped at him making his feelings change, twisting them around and rearranging them. He needed more of Lucy, plain and simple. The feeling that he had before with Lucy was more a feeling of happy to be with her, but today, when she thanked him for being there, it had morphed into a feeling of need, possession, and protection. It was then that he decided that even if it meant his life he was going to protect Lucy and be there for her when she needed someone. It was then that this trip turned more into a trip for Lucy than a trip for finding Igneel.

Letting Lucy go, he got up and put the chair that was next to the bed back in the dinning hall. When Natsu reentered the room, he saw a questioning look on her face. He answered her question with action. Natsu reached out removing the blanket and gently picked Lucy up, sitting her on the edge of the bed. Holding Lucy from behind, he brought her up to his chest and leaned against the backboard of the bed. He pulled her close and held her tight back to chest, silently telling her that he would always be there no matter what.

Lucy was in shock. Shocked that Natsu hugged her, shocked that he made feel safer than she had ever felt in her life, and shocked at the way his entire being changed when she had thanked him. His change was visible and she watched it happen. The way his eyes suddenly became a thousand times deeper and hypnotic. The way his hug became more desperate and gentle. The way his whole body started melding with hers. It was never like this before. She never had a hug like that before and she never ever expected it from Natsu. The first hug itself was more than enough for her but when he change after a simple thank you, she found herself at a loss when Natsu got up to put the chair back. It made her feel like she was missing a part of her. Not a small part, but an irreplaceable chunk of her being. She felt hollow. So when Natsu came back and pulled her into him, she could do nothing but feel his warmth seep through her body making her feel safe and wanted.

She never thought that her body would act this way for Natsu. She found herself able to feel every movement that he made. The slight shift of his legs, the occasional shift of his head, and the rhythmic rise and fall of his breathing. He rested his head on hers and she felt his breath on her cheek. That simple basic action of breathing made a shiver run down her spine. He felt it and pulled her in closer, completely encompassing her.

Natsu felt Lucy shiver and that worried him so he did what came naturally: he pulled her closer. That little action made Lucy loose all of her inhibitions. He felt her relax into him unconsciously telling him that she safe and secure. Thinking back to when he put the chair away, he came across a feeling that attempted to rip him apart. It felt like he ad been split in two. He never wanted to feel that again. It wasn't pleasant.

Sitting like that, without saying a word, reveling in each others company Natsu and Lucy let sleep pull at their conscious taking them to a far away place. They didn't notice when to door opened and two people walked into the room, stopping when they saw the sight before them.


	7. Ch 7 The Encounter

CouchPotato121 here

CouchPotato121 here! Hope you liked the last chapter. I had an inspiring talk with one of my best friends and that was the result. Unfortunately, that was only half of what I wanted to fit in that chapter so the end was kind of sudden and bad. So here is the second half of that chapter in the form of chapter 7. I don't think that there is too much cheese. But tell me if you feel that there is and I will cut it down.

Chapter 7

The Encounter

Gray walked in the door to their apartment only to find Natsu and Lucy asleep on the bed. He immediately walked to the kitchen and plopped the food he got at the store down in the table. Walking back to the door he grabbed the person he walked over with and left, slamming the door behind them.

**35 minutes earlier**

Gray was paying for the food when he felt a tap on his shoulder. His head snapped up looking around only to find the one person in the world that he really wanted to talk to: Mirajane. His mouth dropped open and his eyes bugged out.

"Mira…! WHAT! What are you doing here?"

"Umm… I was in town?" Mirajane offered. She didn't want to tell Gray that Makarov was worried about them because he hadn't gotten a huge bill yet.

"That's not right. You're not supposed to be here…" Gray said still not grasping that Mirajane was standing in front of him.

"Umm here are your groceries please take then and proceed to the exit." The Clerk said hesitantly, not wanting to make the man go gloom and doom again.

"Yes! Thank you very much. My Gray, this is a lot of food in here. How long are you staying?" Mirajane said taking the bags from the clerk and dragging Gray to the door.

Gray had still not recovered from the shock of seeing Mirajane after twenty minutes of sitting across from her in a café. His eyes were vacant and not seeing, mouth hanging open a bit. Then like a five-ton bag of potatoes falling from the highest point in the sky, it hit him that this _was_ Mirajane. His eyes focused on her sitting across from him smiling a sweet smile. She noticed that he was "regaining consciousness" and talked first.

"How are things going with you three?" She asked trying to make pleasant conversation. She got quite the contrary reaction of what she was hoping. The gloom and doom took over again as he remembered his epiphany that he had in the store. But that did not keep him from taking to Mirajane; he would not waste this time with her. That was unacceptable and he had already wasted more that twenty minutes. Then he tensed as he remembered this morning. He went rigged.

"Natsu and Lucy are back at the apartment we are staying in. Everything was fine." He said leaving a hint for Mirajane to pick up. And being Mirajane she did.

"'_Was_ fine'? Gray, what happened, I hope it wasn't too bad. I mean we didn't get a bill at Fairy Tail." Mirajane said seriously. She had not expected this, that there actually was a problem, maybe two from the looks of it. She watched as gray fought with himself over which thing he was going to tell her first. He made his decision and looked her in the eyes.

"Well, you remember the last job we had altogether? How we got all bruised up by Lucy when she went berserk? Well, this morning we were getting up, and she was in a really bad mood to begin with believe me, so when I took her advice and kicked Natsu to get him out of bed she kind of snapped." Gray said really quickly trying to keep all of the necessary things in and all of the unnecessary things out. He looked at the table.

"Things very quickly got out of hand, but we bound her magic, and then she fainted and has been out for hours. She just woke up before I went at the grocery store." Gray finished in one breath. He looked up to see Mirajane's reaction. She sat there for a moment before speaking.

"This is worse than Makarov thought. He though she would wait longer to make another appearance. Natsu is still with Lucy, right?"

"Yeah"

"Well, from now there is always going to be someone with her at all times, we may need to appoint someone, and we are not to let Lucy get too tired. That seems to be a factor in her appearance. Also I don't want you two to f-"

"We already agreed not to fight in front of Lucy again, that seemed to be when Jasmine would break through." Gray finished.

"Jasmine? That's her name. What does she want?" Mirajane asked more to herself than to Gray.

"She said for us to know what she wants, we would have to fine and ask Igneel." Gray answered waiting to see her expression at the mention of Igneel.

"What? Igneel? This just keeps getting more and more complicated. This might be getting out of hand for just the three of you. Makarov told me that if this 'Jasmine' appears again that I should stay." Mirajane was talking to herself very fast and Gray caught it all.

"You're going to stay?!" Gray exclaimed. This would certainly make it easier for him to bear Natsu and Lucy. Someone to really truly talk to. The tension that made his frame ridged when he talked rolled of his shoulders visibly relaxing. He looked up to Mirajane only to find a shocked look on her face and a small blush coloring her face stretching across her nose from ear to ear. His heart skipped a beat, spluttered, and picked up double time.

'Who knew Mirajane could look so …so … nice with a blush, no, Not nice per-say, but more cute? No, that's not it. Hmm. And what's with my heart? It like stopped to change to a faster gear. Damn, I must have a blush now too. That reminds me.' He ignored his heart as it switched into yet another faster gear when he thought about what the answer to his question would be. Who knew he could get so excited about hearing something personal from Mirajane.

"Mirajane, you remember the conversation we had about what I was feeling? Well, I found out that I was jealous. You said that you felt that same emotion at one point in time. I want to know when and who you were jealous of and why." Gray asked with the evil grin playing at the corners of his lips. The paint can splashed her face again this time hitting her face full on making her become a shade of read so deep that Gray thought her head might explode.

'Mirajane looks so pretty when she's flustered. I have to remember to make her blush full force more often. Maybe, once a day? That sounds good. I don't think I could ever get used to how easily she blushes that taunting red color. Ha! When I see that, I just can't help myself, I just have to tease her. I think cute may be the word after all. But that does not explain it all, there is more than just cute there. I can't put my finger on it. Hmm…'

"Umm, well you see, it…well… um… nice weather we're having?" Mirajane says desperately trying to avoid the question. "Here the sky is so blue, and the clouds look like they are suspended from the sky by strings."

'Haaaa, that was smooth! Great, he is not going to let this go I can tell. Nooo! What do I do?' Mirajane thought, desperately trying to get the attention off that subject. If she told him whom she was jealous of he would figure out that she liked him.

"Nu-uh you are going to tell me, no beating around the bush." Gray said as another evil grin spread across his face, eyes twinkling with mischief.

"How about you tell me how you feel about Lucy. Then I will tell you about…that but you promise not to overreact or anything like that. AND, No laughing!" Mirajane compromised. She watched Gray think this over, and after a minute or so he agreed.

So Gray told her all about his jealousy of Natsu for being so close to Lucy. He also told Mirajane that he had come to this conclusion many times but refused to accept that he was jealous of Natsu!

"Of all of the people in the world, WHY did I have to be jealous of Natsu?! Why?" Gray said in a very dramatic fashion, throwing his arms up in the air only to have them come down to his face and imitate The Scream, then dropped his head as he heard Mirajane giggle at his drama. A small smile graced his lips. He was going to put on a show for Mirajane. So he switched his smile for a pout.

**Mirajane POV**

I was all too happy to listen to Gray for the rest of the day. I didn't want to move, only listen to his voice that I missed hearing at Fairy Tail.

'Missed was to weak a word,' I mused, 'More like longed to hear his tenor voice echo through Fairy Tail.' I sighed as I watched him talk about it, he was animated and I liked that about him too.

'Come to think about it, there aren't many things that I don't like about Gray. The only thing I can think of is that he likes Lucy.' With my last thought he threw up his hands in the air and did The Scream. I laughed at the obscure gesture Gray just made. I could feel my face heat up a bit as he brought his head back up to look at me. He was pouting. Still staring at me he changed his position at the table. His upper arm was flat against the table and his forearm supported his face. The pout was gone, replaced by a small, warm smile.

'Whoa, That smile! I've never seen that smile before. Never! Not even when he was looking at Lucy. I think my heart just leaped out of my chest, ran a marathon, and hopped back in still beating at marathon speed. I must be blushing magenta right now.'

**Gray POV**

'This is the first time I can think of that I got to vent about Natsu and Lucy having a deeper connection than just friendship. I know I can trust Mirajane.'

I let a small smile for on my face. I decided to change the way I was sitting. I put my arm on the table and propped my head up with my hand. I looked up at her through my eyelashes, smile still in place. I stared at her, watched as her face became that wonderful red that made her look so innocent and, and I don't know! Dare I say sexy? No, but that was getting closer. Cute, one side of it Sexy the other side. That blush of hers is like a happy medium.

'I made her blush that deep red blush again. Oh man! My heart is just not behaving today. Just when I got it to slow down again I see her face flush and BAM my heart rate goes through the roof. Still though, I can see why. I mean who's wouldn't speed up with that gorgeous look on her face, all flustered and pink.' I couldn't it any more. I had to make conversation or I was going to watch my heart run away and never come back.

"Ok, I told you, now you tell me. I want to know." Smooth huh? Huh? Yeah!

"Umm, I bet that Lucy and Natsu are waiting for the food. I think we should go and deliver the food! Yeah that would be good. I'm a little hungry too. Check Please! Ok Gray lets go and make some food!"

It all happened so fast, one minute she was cornered, in my grasp, cowering in my presence, and the next we were walking up the stairs to the apartment. 'What did I do wrong? God, she's a slippery one. I tell you. Next time she won't get away.

We made it to the floor with our apartment and headed to door number 5. I got the keys out of my pocket.

'Hmm, I actually have my clothes on. Usually they're gone after ten minutes. I wonder why.'

I opened the door and looked around for the two other inhabitants. I didn't see them. I was expecting Natsu to come and bole me over trying to get to some food. I stepped into the apartment getting ready to hold the door open for Mirajane when I saw them. My worst nightmare came true. Natsu was holding Lucy in a very intimate position on the bed. They both looked asleep. I grimaced and felt a slight pang in my chest. So being civil and letting Lucy get some sleep, I went and put the groceries in the kitchen. Without stomping or making any more noise that necessary, I left without saying a word while grabbing Mirajane and leading her back down the stairs.

Once outside the building I began to loose it. Before I was going to say anything to Mirajane, I was going to find a place where I could talk to her without having to restrain myself. I found a park that was empty. It was more like a forest in the middle of town. So, I made my way in there so I could talk to the one person whom I knew would listen and would understand.

**Normal POV**

"Gray, are you alright? I mean you just saw-"

"I'm fine. Just a little angry at myself. If I had told Natsu to go get the food then I might be in that same position…" Gray left the sentence off there. Mirajane looked at Gray and smiled a sad smile. That last sentence made her feel a like she didn't have a place in his heart at all, that she didn't have a chance at all. But she was glad that she could read Gray. She knew it would be something like this, self-loathing, and not hating Natsu. In her mind, that made him admirable. She watched a look of pure horror cross his face. He looked up and stared at her. She stared back with curiosity, watching again how the lines on his face took a sad shape. Then he spoke, she watched his lips move and almost didn't hear what he said.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean that I would have preferred to be with Lucy and not you. I wouldn't have left you to Natsu. I didn't realize what I was saying. I'm sorry."

"Wait a minute, what do you mean? Lucy is the girl that you like right? I see no reason for you to say you're sorry for wanting to be the one who's holding her."

Mirajane was even more confused. 'What is he talking about? I glad that he apologized about the last sentence but the 'preferred to be with Lucy and not you'. I'm so confused. Maybe he doesn't really like Lucy and she is just a crush! It would make sense. I mean who knows what I mean, I don't! But it was nice to hear him say that how would like to spend time with me like this. Maybe if I tell him then he might feel the same way I do but just doesn't realize this yet. That would be amazing.'

Mirajane was still staring at Gray when the meaning behind his words hit him. He looked that the ground and hid his face as much as possible without using his hands. He could not help it when his heart jumped out of his chest and ran away. He could not help that the he was now the one blushing and she was the one who made that happen. Just that thought alone made Gray go even redder than he already was.

'It's a good thing that we are where no one can see us. I would have lost my head! God! What is this? I've never felt this way before. This is like the fluttering is my stomach when I see Lucy, only twenty times more potent! What does this mean? I don't know! Don't ask me!' Gray fought with himself.

He looked up to see Mirajane was wearing a soft innocent smile looking at him in a way that made calmed him down one way and excited in a different way all at the same time. It was as if fire was running through his entire system igniting every cell in his body. He suddenly wanted more than anything to touch her face, give her a huge, anything that would entail touching her in any kind of way. It was a completely new feeling for him. He always thought that Lucy had an effect on him, but now he was starting to doubt that she had any effect on him what so ever. This feeling of wanting to touch her was so strong. It took all of his will power to keep from moving toward her and touching her.

"Thank you Gray. You don't know what that means to me. Ok, Gray I'll tell you whom I was jealous of. I never thought that you were the person that I would tell. I thought that you would forget all about what I said. But I guess I was wrong. Gray, I was jealous of Lucy." Mirajane stopped there waiting for a reaction from Gray. But he didn't move, silently telling her to keep going, to tell him more. So she continued.

"I was jealous of Lucy, for over a month when she first got here. She was spending more time with you and Natsu. I was jealous of that. I wanted to spend that much time with you. At the counter was the only real time I had to talk to you. You had missions that you would tell me about, and I listened to every one, hanging off every word that you said to me, treasuring them. But when you started talking to her more and more and less to me, I started breaking apart from the inside out. I didn't know what I was feeling until I talked to Makarov about the constant pain in my chest. He told me that I was jealous of Lucy. Jealous that she had you all to herself, and that you didn't seem to want to talk to me any more."

She paused again studying Gray's reaction. He was staring at her, mouth hanging open, not saying anything. So she continued again. This time she would finish.

"When I saw how you looked at her, inside I wished that you would look at me like that. When I saw the pain expression on your face after she was with Natsu, I couldn't not help you. I talked to Lucy, but she didn't notice the pained looks that you gave her when you saw them together. Gray, I was jealous of Lucy because she was the only thing you would talk about, look at, and I wanted you to look at me, talk about me, and maybe spend time with me outside of Fairy Tail. Gray, you mean more to me than even my brother. You know that that is saying a lot, but you have more of my heat than you know, and I just wish that I had just as much from yours."

Mirajane stopped there. She was done and it was all up to Gray now, whether to accept her love or not. She was ready for Gray's decision. She stood there, not at all embarrassed, but shaking, staring him straight in the eye. The answer she got was more than she thought she would get.

Gray had never in a million year thought he would hear this from her. Just listening to her made him feel things he never though possible. There was joy, sadness, regret, excitement, and so many others that he could only place as real feeling for her. He looked at Mirajane and saw her shaking. That was all it took for him to loose his hold on the want that was racking his body when he saw her. He walked forward, not wasting any time on thinking. He was past that and so was Mirajane. He put his arms around her waist pulled her in, pressed her close, and lifted her off the ground, holding her closer than he had ever held anyone before. He felt her wrap her arms around his neck and pull closer to him resting her head on his shoulder. Gray took advantage of the new position and whispered into her ear.

"While you were talking, I remembered that you were always there for me, no matter what. Through my ranting about Natsu, and my moping about Lucy, you were there. While you were talking about how much you wanted to have a part of my heart, you have no idea what that did to me. I have never felt this way about anyone in my entire life. The things I felt for Lucy pale in comparison for what I feel for you. Without even knowing it, you have made your way into my heart and much more. I have to say that after what you just told me, you are my heart."

There was silence for a long time, but to Gray it felt like a second. Still holding her off the ground he felt when she started crying. Gray could now feel tears through his shirt. But that was not what caught him off guard. Mirajane suddenly started laughing. He set her down without relinquishing his hold on her and gave her a quizzical look. She looked at him and answered his silent question.

"I feel sorry for Lucy. You and I are more in tune with our emotions. But when it comes to Natsu, She is going to have a hard time. In the long run, we are lucky. I have to say that I'm looking forward to how things between Natsu and Lucy work out." With that thought, I let our hug go until we were holding hands.

"I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when they wake up to find us staring at them." Gray finished with and evil grin. They proceeded to head back to the apartment, talking about how they were going to have to change the sleeping arrangements.

CouchPotato121 here! Longest chapter yet! (dabs sweat off of face) I can't decide and I want the reviewers to help me. Should I write another Fairy Tale Fic or a Naruto one? I have an idea that can go both ways. Which one should I do?

Please review with your answer.


	8. Ch 8 The Situation

CouchPotato121 here!!! Oh man! It's been so long since I had time to write and I have so many new chapters that I want to write and have ideas for. So much to do so little time! Thank you all for waiting. I'm trying to slow my writing down. Tell me if it's working.

This chapter may not seem important but it is. Mua ha ha ha ha!

Chapter 8

The Situation

There are many times in life where you find yourself in very many embarrassing situations. This was one such situation.

Lucy and Natsu were still asleep when the new, and very much happy, couple came in with the bags of groceries. The door closed with a small click that reverberated around the room softly. It was around 4 in the afternoon and the light from the window was creating faint shadows along the floor. The pair came in as quietly as they could, dropping the food in the kitchen with a muffled thunk. They had a plan, not a very elaborate one, but one none the less. They had talked this over on he way back to the apartment, and if it went well, then they would have a barrel of laughs and extortion material for the next three or more weeks. It was going to be funny. The first thing they did was to make sure that the two were still sleeping, and to their delight, they were sound asleep. Then they took out one of the magical devises that capture images and take a picture. This was the extortion material. Now the last part was to wait until they woke up. Oh they could not wait to see their faces. They were hard pressed to keep their mirth from waking them up before they were ready.

Lucy's POV

There was a small sound echoing through the darkness that I was comfortably resting in. Usually I don't like dreamless sleeps, but this one was warm and soft and completely encompassing me. The sound was far off and I was tempted to ignore it and drift back into the warm bliss, but then there was a louder thunk that brought me closer to reality than the last. It was then that I became a little more aware of my surrounding. I shifted a little trying to find another comfortable place. I could pick up on some whispers and maybe some snickering.

'I don't know who it is, I should be freaking out right now but...Damn this is so comfortable, wherever I fell asleep just got a lot more comfortable and warm. I am not complaining.'

I tilted my head to the side and I started to fade again back into the blissful, comfortable, and total warmth that I never remembered having before when I slept, even in my own bed. But then, as fate would have it, the comfortable thing that I was sleeping on, I'm assuming I was sleeping on something, twitched and I was brought back to reality.

Natsu's POV

There was a sound in my dream that did not belong there. A click was not a normal thing when you are dreaming about a dragon in a forest having an argument with a very angry girl. Not only that but after a few more words were shot back and forth, there was a thunk. The thunk was deafening, drowning out the quarrel between the two sending a ripple across the image. Then the image melted away, becoming a haze before it dissipated and was replaced with darkness and feeling. I felt a small shift of warmth on top of me.

'That's not new, Happy always slept on me.' The weight of this thing was much more enjoyable. It was constricting yet at the same time it was very comfortable and soothing. It was warm and soft.

'I like warmth.' I thought, 'Happy was never this warm, granted he was a smaller heater, but this warmth almost hot and was everywhere. Falling back…into…bliss. Wait! where was I? I like soft. Waking up to Happy in the morning is sometimes waking up feeling like a pincushion.'

So to savor what ever this was, because it was quite enjoyable, I found my arms, woke them up and pulled it just a little closer. I felt another shift and whatever it was found a nice nook in my neck. I immediately felt a rush of heat flow across my neck. I don't know what that was, but I involuntarily shivered a bit. It became a rhythmic thing and I found myself in a very enjoyable position so I let out a sigh and was about to fall asleep again when my ears started working and I heard soft giggling. I twitched in annoyance.

'Whoever that is had no right to take me out of this blissful sleep.'

Normal POV

Gray and Mirajane had, as quietly as possible, brought over two chairs from the dinning room and stationed them right in front of the bed where Natsu and Lucy were sleeping. They were going to sit there, waiting till they woke up and stare at them, and hopefully get a really funny picture of their reactions. It was all about the embarrassment. They almost lost themselves to laughing when Lucy almost woke up, made Natsu wake up, Natsu brought her closer, Lucy shifted again so she was breathing across his neck, he shivered, and both seemingly went back to sleep. It was just too cute, they had to laugh. Now though, they were sitting at the end of the bed, staring at the cuddling mass. Still stifling their laughter, they saw Natsu twitch. Immediately, Gray and Mirajane stopped their giggles and got ready, they took out, what we would call, the camera. It was the time of truth.

Lucy was the first to wake up. When Natsu twitched it made the felling come back into play, so she was hearing and feeling now. It was no wonder that she woke up. But instead of opening her eyes she sat there listening for the whispers she heard. There was none. So in typical Lucy, she became suspicious. She opened her eyes immediately locking eyes with Gray.

Lucy POV

I opened my eyes and I saw Gray sitting there with a huge smirk on his face.

'Wait, What the..?' I shifted my gaze to the being next to Gray and I was looking into a pair of very familiar eyes. 'Oh Mirajane with the same smirk as…Gray?'

'Why are they smirking?' I thought through a fogged mind. 'Wait, I didn't think I would see her for a while.'

Some where in the back of my mind the gears started working, clanking together and picking up to normal speed. My eyes widened as I sat up, remembering what had happened before I fell asleep.

'OH God!'

I looked back and forth between the two not wanting to look back. Panic was rising and I could feel my face heating up. I looked back and forth between them again. I froze in place when I heard a groan come from behind me. I looked back as my panic reached maximum height and all rational though flew out the window. He was there in all his Natsu glory. My face was a tomato in less than a second. I looked back only to have the camera to go off.

'What was that? I don't care right now. Please don't wake up, please don't wake up!' I chanted in my head. And to my luck, can you guess what happened? He started waking up.

Panic to max! Systems shut down.

"NO!" was the first thing that was said in the apartment as the irrational siren in my head went off. And what did that do? It made Natsu sit up all the way and tighten his hold on me, while he looked around the room wildly for the perpetrator that made me scream out.

'Oh the irony.' I thought sarcastically.

'Just great.'

Still blushing, I looked at around to see Mirajane and Gray take a picture while holding their stomachs.

'I'll never live this down.' I thought as I felt Natsu calm down. His hold on me didn't lessen though, if anything it got firmer. I felt him relax and sit back. I didn't realize it before, but he let out a sigh right next to my ear and my face was enflamed again, only this time for a completely different reason that I didn't want to admit to. Not just yet anyway.

Natsu's POV

Right after I twitched the comfortable thing started to move again. It took me a while to realize that the heat it was emanating was only warmth this time. I missed it. So I let out an annoyed groan to let it know that I was not happy with the new arrangements. Then as if realizing I was there, it stopped moving altogether. There were a couple of seconds when nothing happened. Then it twisted and I saw a flash of light. All movement stopped and since it was too late for me to get back to sleep, even though it's really easy, I started to get up.

"NO!"

I jolted up. Someone was making my warm comfy thing scream.

'Oh they were going to get it.' I started looking around the putrid colored room for the reason my personal heater screamed in my ear.

'Wait…that sounded like Lucy. Oh yeah, I remember…she was crying and I was…hugging her. She must have woken up and forgot why I was there.'

I relaxed a bit and tighten my grip around her waist; I was not about to let her go after what happened. It was too soon; I didn't want to let her go. So instead of letting her go I let out a sigh and looked around the room a final time. My eyes landed on a strange sight. Gray and Mirajane were both on the floor in hysterics.

'What's so funny?' I though scrunching up my face in annoyance, it took me all of two seconds to realize that Lucy and I were in a very compromising situation and that the reactions of both of us must have been a sight to see. Now instead of just letting it slide, like I usually do when I do something embarrassing, I felt the blood rush to my face.

"What the…?" A flash cut off the rest of my sentence. I closed my eyes as I tried to regain my sight. And as if the God of cameras came down and gave me a moment of wisdom, I put two and three together and got four.

"What are you two doing?" I roared. It was them. They did it. Why else would there be chairs in front of the bed? And why else would they have a camera? Still blushing, I gave them the fiercest glare I could, considering that I had a now comatose Lucy in my arms.

Normal POV

A flash of light engulfed the room for a third time that day. Gray whispered to Mirajane that their mission was done. Taking the confusion of Natsu they took the opportunity and ran for their lives. They were more afraid of Lucy, she has a mean temper but who knows. As they left, they almost ran into a young man with short, black, messy hair. They didn't see much of him, but it looked as if he hadn't slept in days.

"Waidawhowhat…?" he exclaimed as the two ran past him, narrowly missing him. They yelled their apologies behind them. After regaining his composure the young man walked away, every once in a while stopping, seemingly looking at one of the many paintings on the walls.

It was only when Gray and Mirajane found a nice place to rest and look at their prizes did they stop. They had a picture of them sleeping, Lucy awake and blushing furiously, and one with Natsu and Lucy both awake. The last one was priceless. Natsu was glaring at the camera, even though it looked more like a pout, and Lucy was sitting there looking at them in horror, not quite processing what had just happened, in short shell-shocked. Mirajane took out one of the communication balls and contacted Makarov. She showed the pictures to him, who in turn showed them to every one else.

O.O O.O O.O O.O

Natsu and Lucy looked at each other after watching Gray and Mirajane leave. There was mutual silence and, like a time bomb, Lucy yelled at the top of her lungs that she would get revenge. Then as it came, the flame died down and she looked at Natsu again. This time he was looking away however, a small blush dusting his cheeks. It was then that Lucy's stomach let them know that she had not had much food at all that day. Releasing a laugh Natsu got up and said he would make some dinner.

The young man outside, not twenty feet away, gave a noticeable jump when Lucy yelled, but continued on his way. At the end of the hall, he looked around and then vanished though the wall.


	9. Ch 9 Things get Complicated

CouchPotato121: Man. It has been such a long time since I had the time to actually write anything. I apologize to the readers of this fanfic.

Natsu: I can't even remember what the story was about anymore.

Gray: I have to agree with Natsu. I hope you have some idea of what you are doing… Not that you had one anyway.

Just do the disclaimer!

Mirajane: CouchPotato121 does not own Fairytale

Mishaps

Things get Complicated

After Gray and Mirajane came back to the apparent that evening, they had to deal with two very embarrassed, and mad friends. As punishment for their prank, just as Gray was about to take his first bit of dinner, Natsu lit it on fire, and Lucy made Mirajane spill all of the details of why she was here using whatever means she could. Though there was still some bad air in the room they were laughing like friends again though every once in a while an evil smile would appear and a prank was pulled but other then that, they were back to their old ways.

"So you're actually here because Master is worried because he hasn't gotten a bill yet? I don't know how I feel about that." Lucy sighed as Gray and Natsu laughed. "It's not something to be proud of you dolts!" Lucy yelled. How could they be so unreasonable? It wasn't possible.

"Anyway, how many days do we still have left before the rip?" Mirajane inquired as she washed the dinner dishes by hand. She didn't mind; it helped her focus.

"We still have about a month. It took us a little longer than I would have liked but the train ride will get us to the town at the base of the mountain in only three hours."

"That's fortunate. At least that seems to be going well." She put the dish down and picked up another. Lucy sighed.

"Why are we here a month early? I don't ant to spend the whole month on that mountain." Natsu gave her a look that clearly indicated she was being dumb. This would be the perfect place for a Happy comment, but Natsu didn't have it in him.

"To check it out. We're only going to spend the night tomorrow to give us time to get use to the mountain. Then we come back and make a plan." Lucy gawked at Natsu. The only time that he has ever had a plan, it had to revolve around the fact that Igneel was the target. It figured.

"Ah. Natsu, that's a great idea Natsu." Mirajane finished the plate she was working on and turned around.

"Yeah, the only one he's ever had." Gray snickered.

"Oi, you got a problem with that?" Natsu glared at him across the table.

"No, no problem." They glared at each other for a moment before turning away from each other childishly.

Natsu smiled when he saw outside the window. It was dark now and the stars were shinning crisply against the sky. His dad was waiting out there somewhere for him and all of these people were here to help him get there. His smile faded slightly. But Lucy was involved in this much more than he could have imagined. None of it made any sense. It made his head hurt when he tried to piece things together.

Lucy took out her celestial key chain and stared at them after seeing that everyone was in their won world again. She wasn't sure about it but she had a feeling that her keys held some important information. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer. If she was wrong then she'd have to start from the beginning. But the feeling of the being that over took her conscious was familiar, very familiar. The only one that could help her was the southern cross; Crux. She put her key chain back in her pocket, eyes determined.

"Lucy, you ready to leave tomorrow on the train?" Gray asked from across the dinning table. Natsu focused back on the people in the room with expectant eyes. It was an important answer after all. Mirajane glanced at the table from the kitchen. Lucy focused back on her group of friends.

"Yeah. I should be ready to go by tomorrow. Nothing to worry about. I do have to check into something, so I'm going to go to bed." Lucy stood up and pushed her chair in with a excited gusto.

Both Gray and Natsu smiled. She could be tough when she wanted to.

"Yosh! Tomorrow we head off! Lucy, Gray, Mirajane; we are going on another adventure!" Exuberantly, Natsu jumped into the air, smile stretching from ear to ear. Gray flinched and Mirajane smiled. Lucy just sighed.

"Shut up Natsu, your too loud." Gray couldn't help himself. Old habits die hard.

"What was that exhibitionist?" Natsu snapped.

"You heard me soot breath." Gray countered. Mirajane sighed and put her plate down slowly. Lucy vanished around the corner and Mirajane knew that they wouldn't see her until tomorrow.

"Have you two forgotten already?" Mirajane turned around and gave the two a look they hadn't seen in a long time. Both Gray and Natsu flinched. Not getting on each other's nerves was going to be harder than they had originally thought.

"It won't happen again." Gray announced. Natsu nodded.

"Just as long as you two understand that I will not hesitate to end your fights; everything should go along just fine" Mirajane smiled sweetly, contrasting sharply with her words. Ever since Lisanna came back and her run in with Freed, more of her older self was peaking through. Natsu and Gray both shivered. The younger Mirajane was almost as bad as Ezra.

Natsu smiled before standing up and stretching.

"I'm going to get some fresh air. I'll be back later. I've been sitting for the last three hours and tomorrow I have to ride a train." Natsu lurched at the thought. Gray scooted away.

"Hey! You're on solid ground. Don't go doing that here." Mirajane laughed as Natsu wobbled out the door. Natsu only groaned in response.

"Well, I guess it can't be helped. It is his weakness after all. I wonder what Lucy's up to. She seemed a little tense when she left for her room."

Mirajane put the last dish down with her drying rag and joined Gray at the table. Gray glanced over to Mirajane and met her eyes. Even though it didn't really show on her face, he knew that she was still worried. Now that she mentioned it, Lucy had been acting a little distant during dinner. Slightly preoccupied was his prognosis. If she wanted to tell them, she would tell them in due time what it was that was bothering her.

"Who knows? It's not a look that I worry about."

Mirajane sighed and put her elbows on the table. They were quite now; both hypothesizing about what Lucy was up to. The putrid purple of the room brought the mood down. Somehow that color just sucked the joy right out of your soul. How Natsu and Lucy had been able to fall asleep and not have nightmares was beyond Gray. Although it might have been the rooms color that put them to sleep in the first place.

As the silence stretched on, Mirajane started to fidget in her chair and the air turned slightly awkward. Gray noticed it too and was struggling to keep the blush off his face as he just realized that they were alone again. He turned his head when he saw that Mirajane was blushing too. Things were a lot more awkward than he thought they would be after her confession. But as he thought about it, he did turn a 180 and suddenly told Mirajane that he liked her and not the girl that he had been pining over the last six months. That was awkward. It dawned on him that she still had doubts about his complete turn around. Who wouldn't? It was just so fast. That had all happened really fast. His thoughts spiraled down that line of thought, getting more and more put-upon as he did.

Mirajane was watching Gray as his thoughts wandered deeper into some unpleasant place. By the time she got up the courage to ask him the question that she had been debating with herself about, Gray had his forehead against the table and a string of unintelligible mumbles tumbling out of his mouth. Mirajane froze. It was really kind of creepy.

"Gray? Are you ok? You don't look so well." Gray lifted his head off the table and gave Mirajane and uncomfortable smile.

"I'm fine. I just realized that I'm a scumbag. That's all." Mirajane just looked at him with a puzzled expression as his complexion got worse.

"What are you talking about Gray?" He heaved out a sigh.

"You must think I'm so shallow." For all she was worth, Mirajane couldn't figure out what was wrong with him.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Gray lifted his head off the table and stared at Mirajane for a moment before blushing. Mirajane hadn't been thinking like that at all.

"No, never mind. It wasn't anything. I was just thinking; that's all." Gray propped his head up using the table and watched Mirajane. They stayed like that for a moment, awkwardness more potent than before. At this point Mirajane gave him a sweet knowing smile.

"Gray, it's ok. I don't hold anything against you. I call it: The Self Awareness Turn Around. It happens to everyone." Gray chuckled as Mirajane gave a large hand gesture to accompany the name.

"You really suck at making up names you know that. You always have." Mirajane puffed out her cheeks and glared childishly at Gray who started laughing. They dissolved into laughter together. Each letting their nerves go. Mirajane spoke first much more at ease with the situation.

"I guess this means that we're going out now?" Gray looked at her in shock. It hadn't really dawned on him that that was the stage they were rapidly approaching. Mirajane mimicked his expression. She had a feeling that he hadn't connected the dots yet.

"Yeah, I guess we are?" Mirajane smiled stiffly. He still needed to process.

"Well, since we both like each other, and have told each other such, that is the next part. Unless you don't want that to happen."

"No! I do it's just that I hadn't expected any of this to happen and so quickly." Gray stopped at the look Mirajane was giving him.

"I understand. I'd be a little surprised if you weren't having some trouble right now." He blushed slightly and his voice became small.

"Plus, I have no idea what to do. I've never dated anyone. So I'm slightly at a loss right now." Mirajane watched his eyebrows furrow in embarrassment as he finished his sentence. She smiled. He could be so cute.

"Then, we take it slow, I guess." The awkward tension was back again and had both of them sweating in their seats, until Gray sighed in agrivation.

"Ah, I can't take this. I like you. Now. That's all there is. We'll see where that takes us. Thinking about something like this isn't even worth the time. And I don't care who knows. We can tell or not tell as many people as we like. I don't care what they think." With that Gray held his hand out over the table and waited for Mirajane. Smiling brightly, Mirajane put her hand in his. He had just answered all of her doubts with conviction. It didn't matter who knew, or if this even lasted. Just that they were in this together.

Gray leaned forward just enough to brush his lips against her delicate knuckles.

"I think we should tell Natsu and Lucy." Mirajane giggled. Gray smirked.

"Ah, I was just thinking that."

**With Lucy**

After her quick escape, Lucy sat on her bed staring intently at the keys lying perfectly in a semi circle. This was only a theory but she had the sneaking suspicion that this Jasmine person was related to stellar spirits somehow. That feeling that she had when this thing took her over was very similar to the feeling of a gate opening. Making a decision, Lucy unhooked Crux and brought forth her Magic.

"Open gate of the Southern Cross, Crux!" Light bathed the room and a specifically unique magic circle blossomed. The old Stellar Spirit shimmered into being.

"Morning Lucy."

"Ano, It's night time but that's ok. I have something to ask you." Lucy closed her eyes in frustration. He was sitting there nursing two bubbles.

"This isn't the time to be sleeping? Wake up!" They both popped at the same time as the old stellar woke up with a start.

"Ah, my apologies. What is it you need to know?" Lucy took in a short breath.

"I need to know if there is a Stellar Spirit named Jasmine, or anything that might point to someone who could have been called Jasmine. All I know is that she knows a dragon, a fire dragon."

Crux closed his eyes and Lucy sighed. Hopefully she would get some answers. It wasn't any easier while she was waiting for him than it was before. The seconds ticked into minutes and Lucy was starting to get frustrated. But it would do no good to try and make him work faster. It must be really important. The longer it takes the harder the information is to find.

"Lucy-dono, I some information, however, I would advise you have an audience with the Stellar Spirit King if this information is correct." Crux peered at Lucy, sometimes he feared for the girl. She found herself in some very difficult places.

"The Stellar Spirit King? No way. What have you got for me?" Lucy leaned forward ready to listen. Crux gave her dark look. Lucy's full attention fell on him. He wasn't one for jokes normally but he was dead serious now. What had she stumbled upon? He spoke in a sinister tone that made Lucy uneasy.

"Have you ever hear of the Rhodium Keys?" Lucy slowly shook her head no.

"There are only four of them, each representing the four main elements: Gaia of the Earth, Jasmine Wind's vessel, Piras the first spark of Fire, and Hudor Water incarnate. They are very powerful. However, they have been asleep for the last 300 human years. They have only ever had one owner and one owner only. No other Stellar Mage has even come close to finding them." He paused, debated with himself. "Lucy-dono, this is all I can tell you without consequence."

"Thank you Crux. That's all I needed to know." Lucy felt her insides twist. This was much worse than she thought.

"Then if that is all Lucy-dono, I shall take my leave." Golden light surrounded the old timer and his form started to fade.

"Oh! Lucy-dono, I believe you call him Loki, but he knows how to get you an audience with the King. I advise you do this as soon as possible." With that he vanished with a pop.

Lucy leaned back against the bedpost. That certainly was news to her. She had thought that the golden keys were the strongest keys you could form a contract with. That was all she found with her research and her mother's base of knowledge. Shows how much she actually knew about the Spirits. If she didn't know about the Rhodium Keys then how many other things concerning the whole of the Spirit World was she ignorant to? Lucy suddenly felt overwhelmed. Rhodium Keys. They sounded strange to her.

What happened 300 years ago? The way Crux talked about their owner was a little strange. What happened to them? She needed to know. It was all so vague. With her mind still bent on getting answers, Lucy unhooked the Lion's key. She stared at it for a moment. Her first audience with the Stellar King was because of Loki. She smiled.

"Open Gate of the Lion. Leo!" Spinning into being, the magic circle that belonged only to Loki expanded and reveled his form. With his hand over his heart and bent at the waist, Loki greeted Lucy.

"Hello Lucy. I'm delighted to have you call on me regardless of the time." Loki had grabbed her hand and kneeled in front of her. Lucy smiled slightly. Loki really was over the top sometimes. She sighed when Loki wrote her name on the purple wall in lights. She cut to the chase.

"Loki, is there a way that I can talk to your King any time soon?" Lucy felt relieved when Loki started to compose himself. All goofiness aside, Loki was very reliable.

"I could ask him now if you like, but what is this about? Stellar Mages don't ask for an audience." Lucy smiled strangely at Loki's relentless gaze. She was going to tell him anyway.

"Rhodium keys." Loki felt his stomach drop. Those were not the words he was expecting.

"Lucy, how do you know about the Rhodium keys?"

"I asked Crux about a Stellar Spirit named Jasmine. He told me about the keys. Please I need to speak with him." Loki couldn't believe what he was hearing. It wasn't possible.

"Lucy, how do you even know about Jasmine? No Stellar Mages should know about them. Crux isn't even supposed to have that information. Lucy, what's going on?" She gave him determined stare.

"Loki, that's what I'm trying to find out. Strange things have been happening and I keep blacking out. Natsu and Gray told me that when I loose conscious they meet a woman who knows Igneel named Jasmine. All I know is that every time before I blacked out it felt like a gate was opening. But that isn't possible. Is it?" Loki had a sour look on his face.

"You had all these problems and I didn't even notice." Lucy smiled.

"It's alright, I'm fine. Don't be so hard on yourself." He was silent before he started shimmering.

"I'll go and talk to him. Call me back in five minutes if he doesn't go straight to you." Lucy nodded as her friend vanished.

Lucy sighed as she stretched her arms above her head. This whole business sure was getting to her. At lease she had some answers now. But Loki didn't look like his normal self. What were they to have him look so frightened and uneasy? Just how much power did they have? Lucy went over their names again.

'Gaia of Earth. So she controlled the ground, kind of like Virgo. Still, there must be more to it than that. So Gaia must have complete control over the ground, rock, sand, dirt, maybe even lava. Lucy moved to the next one. Piras the First Spark of Fire. That sounded to her like he was the first to create fire. She knew from experience what fire could actually do. It was devastating. Hudor Water incarnate. He was water, just like Juvia but Juvia had her limits. She suspected that this guy had complete control over every aspect of water, mud, salt water, fresh water. Not all that different. Then Jasmine Wind's vessel, being of wind with complete control over air.

Lucy gulped. They all sounded really powerful. Way out of her league. But Lucy stopped there when the room suddenly got bathed in the light of the Spirit world. Loki emerged as from the light in front The King. Lucy gawked at him. He was smaller than the last two times she saw him. A human size stellar spirit king stood in front of her.

"Lucy, I hear that you have had a run in with Jasmine and have obtained some knowledge of the Rhodium Keys." Lucy and Loki nodded. The Stellar King studied them for a moment before sighing.

"I knew it would come to this. From the moment Lucy helped you, Loki, it was inevitable. I just hoped that it would happen later than this." Loki frowned.

"What are you talking about? What has Lucy got to do with any of this?" The Stellar King paused reluctantly.

"I shall explain. A long time ago the Rhodium keys were in the hand of the strongest Stellar Mage of the time. However, this mage was much like you, Lucy, a very good friend to the spirits and always thought of their wellbeing. It was because of the trust she had in her spirits and their trust in her that they could defeat anything. Now you have to understand that in that time, the destruction from the dark wizard was just beginning to fade and life was blooming again. But there were still evil forces that need to be dealt with. Forces much like Lullaby only much stronger and more fearsome. While battling one of these beings the Stellar Mage met and untimely demise. You can imagine how distraught and upset the Spirits would be. According to Jasmine, the entity that caused this misfortune was a small egg. A dragon's egg to be precise, and it was hatching on their battlefield. Such a rare creature. So they did what they could to make sure that it survived. And he did. But Jasmine never got over that hardship and placed the blame on something so innocent. The rest of the keys followed for a time and caused all sorts of trouble. They would open their gates themselves and go searching for that dragon and in the process destroy things. I had to restrain them and make it so that they could not open their gates, essentially house arrest. They are not allowed in this world Lucy. However, three of them learned to love that side of their friend and found it in the to forgive the little dragon and have since had their freedom to pass though return on one condition. They cannot open their gates themselves." The Stellar King stopped there and sighed. Lucy absorbed the information.

"They were after Igneel. I can't believe this." Lucy leaned back against the headboard and closed her eyes. Loki stared at the King for a moment before he prompted the wise Spirit.

"That still doesn't explain why Lucy is subject to that rage." This time the King sighed dejectedly.

"This is the part that I'm not sure of. But Lucy has been the only one in 300 years that has been able to open more than two gates at a time. Not to mention that all of her Spirits love her and she travels with the one whom Igneel taught. I'm guessing that she's the only one who Jasmine can use to forcefully open her gate. It's like you Loki when you come here of your own power to help Lucy, but Jasmine somehow opens a gate inside Lucy's consciousness and takes over. That's my theory anyway. I'm sorry, but I don't have anymore information than that." Lucy smiled.

"No! That's much more than I was expecting. Really, you have helped me a lot today and put my mind slightly at rest. At least I know most of what's going on. Thank you. You all helped a lot." The Spirit King grinned before fading into nothing, returning to his world. Loki turned to Lucy.

"You should get some rest. I'll be on the look out for Jasmine. Don't hesitate to call my name if you feel it happen again. I'll open the door on my own." Lucy smiled at him.

"Thank you Loki. That means a lot." Loki smiled softly and slowly reached his hand forward to brush a misfit lock of hair behind her ear. He retracted his hand and grinned.

"See you later. Don't do anything to dangerous while I'm not around." With a golden shimmer he flickered out of existence.

Lucy sat there on the bed for a while staring off into space. Things were looking up. A huge weight felt like it was lifted off her shoulders. She felt light. Now she could plan ahead and a least try to be ready the next time. With that reassurance, Lucy started to get ready for bed.

**With Natsu**

Natsu stretched his arms as he walked taking in the crisp night air. He was tired, that was sure but his legs were stiff from sitting that long. There was a light burn in his legs from carrying Lucy, so it felt good to stretch them out again. He watched as people scurried around trying to get home before it got too late. Still, all the shops were still open and the restaurants were full of people. He was slightly confused though. The last time her was here, it was a quite town. Now there were people bustling about at all hours of the night. They were also kind of stiff. Something thing was wrong. He sighed. It didn't really matter. The person who would help him investigate was currently off with Ezra. He grinned when he saw an all seafood place. Natsu made a mental note to bring Happy here. He would love it.

"Ahh, I wish Happy were here. Things get boring. It's no fun to walk around by yourself." Natsu complained as he crouched down on the sidewalk and looked across to a park that came of on nowhere. He didn't notice an old man sit down next to him.

"Yeah, being alone sure puts things into perspective." He wheezed.

"HEE! Where did you come from?" Natsu exclaimed loudly as he landed on his backside.

"I've been here my whole life and this is my favorite seat. Where did you come from?" The old man lifted a fuzzy eyebrow at him. Natsu grinned.

"I'm from Fairy Tail." The old man rasped out a laugh.

"That's from Magnolia, right? That sure is a long way away."

"Ah, It took us a whole month to get here by foot. That sure was a long trip." The old man lifted both his eyebrows, eyes shocked.

"You walked all the way here? Youngsters these days. I can't even imagine. Why not take the train?" Natsu shivered.

"I get motion sickness." The old man laughed.

"Motion sickness, I see. That would explain it. But what is a young fella like you doing alone in a place so far away from your home?"

"I'm not really by myself. My friends are back where we are staying; I'm just taking a walk. Usually I have my best friend with me but he's helping a friend out. But I'm here looking for someone. The last clue I had to his whereabouts was that he was going to show up on Death Mountain." The old man spluttered.

"You're traveling to Death Mountain?"

"Yeah! We leave tomorrow. You want to come too?" Natsu was grinning eat to ear now.

"Do you know what you're doing? Death Mountain has that name for a reason."

"Yeah. There are monsters and stuff, but I've been there before."

"Yeah, but you know that it use to be a volcano right?" Natsu eyes started to sparkle and the old man sighed.

"A real volcano! Cool!"

"It's getting ready to blow. Young man, why do you think there are so many people here right now?" Natsu stopped, puzzled by such a question.

"Cause the business is good and people like it here."

"No, because it won't be habitable when the volcano goes for a half a year. People are starting to close up shop and leave." Natsu blinked.

"Oh, then what about you? Are you going to leave too?"

"As soon as I can. I'm waiting on my wife." They sat in silence for a moment before Natsu got up and smiled at the old man.

"Thank you. I'll see you around." Natsu trotted off back to the apartment leaving the old man behind.

Natsu wasn't scared by that fact that a volcano was about to blow but he should tell the rest. They would be concerned. He was actually kind of excited. He never had fresh lava before and was curious about the taste. He turned around the wave at the old man but he was gone. A tall man was leaning against the wall was the only person on the street. He squinted at the figure for a moment before shrugging and continuing on his way back to the apartment.

The lanky young man in a suit pushed off the wall and watched as Natsu disappeared around a corner. A thin grin split across his face. On his left cheek the mark of a guild appeared in the darkness. The white sign of the dark guild Silver Spur glittered against his skin.

"Natsu Dragneel from Fairy Tail and his friends are here." He laughed sharply before turning and heading in the opposite direction.

"This is going to be so fun. And he's headed to Death Mountain. I can't wait."

He paused when two people obstructed his path. He grinned again. This day was getting better and better.

"Top Hat of Sliver Spur, what are you doing here in this town?" The significantly taller of the two beings inquired menacingly.

"I could ask the same of you Knight-Chan. More of you keep appearing today. Things are going to get exciting." The two figures looked at each other.

"More of us? What are you talking about?" The smaller one squeaked.

"Ah, I can't wait. Until next time." Top Hat vanished with a snap of his fingers.

"Ne, what do you think he meant?" The smaller one asked.

"I have no idea, lets go get some rest and figure this out in the morning."

"Aye!"


End file.
